Career Fair Success
Are you looking for a simple step to career fair success?
Writing a cover letter is one extremely simple way to make yourself stand out from the crowds at career fairs. However, it's a tactic that should be used only for your top rated employers.
Keep in mind, you will not be expected to provide a cover letter for every employer you meet, nor should you try to do so. It would be impossible to write a personalized cover letter for each employer (you'd be exhausted before you even got to the job fair!), and a form letter does nothing to develop rapport with an employer.
However, before you go to the career fair, do some research to determine which employers will be there, and note any that are of particular interest to you. For those few, top rated employers, it can be well worth your time to write a targeted cover letter focused on their specific needs.
Some people will advise you that you should never write a cover letter for this situation. They will tell you that a cover letter serves as an introduction, and you will be able to do that in person.
When it comes to your top rated employers, I completely disagree.While you will get a chance to introduce yourself to employers, it will probably be an extremely brief conversation, and the employer will likely meet hundreds of people in a day.
Your targeted cover letter, if it's written well, will help the hiring managers at your top rated companies to remember you after the event when they are pouring through stacks of applications and trying to remember all of the people they met.
Related Article: Writing Cover Letters
A Few Key Tips to Remember About Writing a Cover Letter for a Career Fair
- Do some research to determine which employers will be attending the job fair. Determine your tops rated employers at the career fair, and only write cover letters for those employers.The organization that is running the event should be able to provide you with a list of companies that will be represented.
- Before you go to the career fair, visit the websites for your top rated employers to research the companies and write targeted cover letters that are focused on each company's specific needs.
- In order for your cover letter to have the desired impact, you must ensure that it is clearly not a form letter type of cover letter.
The key to career fair success is to find appropriate, professional ways to stand out from the crowd.
Few if any job seekers will write a cover letter for a job fair, particularly one that's specifically targeted for a particular employer. It's an easy way to stand out from the crowd and show your top rated employers that you're the kind of person who will go the extra mile to get the job done.
Related Articles
How to Find Job Leads at Trade Shows
